To begin with: don’t bother with this quiz; it isn’t valid any more (see my next post for the quiz that’s now THE quiz). You can scroll down to the end of this post to see the answers to most of the questions (the ones that didn’t get correctly answered are part of the latest quiz).
But first, an announcement regarding a mini project this blog’s been on.
Back in May this year, I set a target for myself: to create a series of posts, each of which would be linked to the post preceding it, and the post succeeding it, in some way or the other. Posts could share common themes, genres, crew (directors, writers, actors and actresses, whatever), or – well, just about any logical connection. I decided I’d continue until I either:
(a) Ran out of ideas, or
(b) Closed the loop – that is, ended up with a post that somehow connected with the post that began the series.
So here we are. The post I began with was Ek Saal (1957), which starred Ashok Kumar and Madhubala. The post I published last week was Mahal (1949), also starring Ashok Kumar and Madhubala. Loop closed.
Want to see the journey? Here it is:
1. Ek Saal (1957; story suggested by an idea by I S Johar)
2. North-West Frontier (1959; starred I S Johar; the bulk of the film was set on a train)
3. Ten of my favourite train songs (All set on trains, of course – throughout!)
4. The Train (1970; continuing with the train theme…)
5. And Then There Were None (1945; a suspense film, the same genre as The Train)
6. Gumnaam (1965; based on And Then There Were None)
7. The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939; like And Then There Were None and Gumnaam, a film that was based on a suspense novel and spawned a Hindi remake)
8. Bees Saal Baad (1962; inspired by The Hound of the Baskervilles)
9. Ten of my favourite Waheeda Rehman songs (since she was the lead actress in Bees Saal Baad)
10. Some thoughts on the songs of Pyaasa (…featuring one of the songs that figured in the previous list)
11. Metropolis (1927; like Pyaasa, Metropolis too was listed in Time Magazine’s all-time 100 best films list)
12. Der Tiger von Eschnapur/Das Indische Grabmal (1959; directed by Fritz Lang, who also directed Metropolis)
13. Kohinoor (1960; a raja-rani [or ‘king-and-queen’] genre film, like Der Tiger von Eschnapur and Das Indische Grabmal)
14. Prince of Foxes (1949; swashbuckler and romance like Kohinoor; also has a scene almost exactly the same as in Kohinoor)
15. Humayun (1945; features a character – Babar – who was almost a contemporary of Cesare Borgia, an important historical character in Prince of Foxes)
16. Rajkumar (1964; same genre – ‘raja-rani’ – as Humayun, though this post was more a tribute to Shammi Kapoor, who passed away on August 14, 2011)
17. Tumsa Nahin Dekha (1957; the first hit film of Shammi Kapoor, the star of Rajkumar)
18. Mere Sanam (1965; a plot similar to Tumsa Nahin Dekha)
19. Rustom-e-Hind (1965; also starred Mumtaz, who acted in Mere Sanam)
20. Aan (1953; a ‘raja-rani’ film, like Rustom-e-Hind)
21. My Family and Other Film Fanatics (about my family and our connections to/comments and distortions of, cinema – since Aan was a film we all had something to say about!)
22. Introducing ‘Kumar Sahib’ (About my uncle, David Vernon Kumar, who was a guitarist at Filmistan – our family’s real connection with filmdom)
23. Mahal (1949; a film for whose best-known song, Aayega aanewaala, my uncle played)
That’s it. Twenty-three posts, and the loop’s closed.
So, now for the quiz. I’d been wanting to do something interesting on this blog for a while, so decided this would be it. Ten questions, on Hindi cinema from (mostly) before the 70s. Some are sitters – almost anyone with any knowledge of film trivia will know the answers to these. Some may be a bit trickier.
The rules for submission:
You’re all free to send in your answers, within the next week. I won’t accept any answers after 3 PM (1500 hrs), Indian Standard Time, on October 4, 2011.
You can post your answers in the comments fields below. Or, if you’d prefer your answers to be confidential (and my mailing them to me (if you have my e-mail address), you can mail them to me. If you don’t have my e-mail address but would like to send me the answers, just leave a note to that effect in the comments; I’ll send you a mail so you can respond to it. (P.S. If you’re wondering why the change in the rules: just to make it less irritating for people who want to participate fairly!)
And now, the prizes:
1. A signed copy of my latest book, The Eighth Guest & Other Muzaffar Jang Mysteries (if you want it! Or, if you’ve already read it/borrowed it/bought it and would like to read more of my writing, you can instead ask for a copy of my next book – one is due for publication early in 2012, another later in 2012).
2. The chance to dictate which theme I choose for my next ‘Ten of my favourite songs’ list.
The book and the ‘dictate-a-theme’ prize go to whoever is the first to submit all the correct answers. If nobody does manage to get all the answers right, whoever’s the first to get the most answers right gets to ‘dictate-a-theme’. No book in that case, sorry.
Whew.
Now for the questions.
1. In the film Detective (1958), what is the profession of the character played by Pradeep Kumar?
2. In Pakeezah (1972), which dancer/actress stood in for Meena Kumari in some of the long shots?
3. Which was Sahir Ludhianvi’s first ghazal to be recorded as a song in a Hindi film after he came to Bombay and joined the cinema industry?
4. Which Guru Dutt film was originally titled Kashmakash?
5. Two films—one made in 1957, the other in 1963—had the following dialogue. In each case, the dialogue is between the hero and the heroine’s friend:
Woman: Soorat toh buri nahin. (The face isn’t bad.)
Man: Seerat bhi buri nahin. (Neither is the nature.)
Woman: Woh toh abhi dekhna hai! (That we’re yet to see!)
Man: Dekhnewaale dekh chuke hain. (Those who had to see, have seen.)
Woman: Acchha? Toh phir der kis baat ki hai? (Really? Then why the delay?)
Man: Shehnai bajaanewaale chhutti pe gaye hue hain! (The men who play the shehnai at weddings have gone on vacation!)
Name the two films.
(Hint: Both conversations occur between the hero and the heroine’s friend, in the presence of the heroine).
6. In which song from a 1962 film (starring Kishore Kumar) did Kishore sing playback for both the male and the female parts in a ‘duet’?
7. To whom did dancer/choreographer Sitara Devi say, “Why do you want to learn to dance? You only have to move your hands about, and it looks beautiful.”?
8. A lake in Alpenrausch, Switzerland, is unofficially named after an Indian director. Who?
(Hint: I have reviewed one of his films on this blog).
9. In a single year, Kalpana played a girl named Neena who falls in love with a man named Preetam, in two films. Name the films.
10. In Pyaasa (1957), what was the name of the character Vijay’s first published collection of poems?
Good luck, all! I’m waiting to see your answers!
Updated nearly 5 hours later with this:
Okay, everybody… since this quiz went a bit off the rails, I’m revealing the answers that both AK and/or Ravi got right. Sorry, guys: you don’t get the prize because this quiz got invalidated – my fault, too, because I should have made it mandatory for people to not write the answers in the comments section. But there’s a new quiz up, so try your hand at that! (And, mail me the answers – if you don’t have my mail ID, ask for it).
For now, the correct answers for some of the questions above. (Note: I’m carrying forward questions that were incorrectly answered, so I’m not including those answers here)
2. Padma Khanna
4. Pyaasa
6. Aake seedhi lagi, from Half Ticket
7. Madhubala
8. Yash Chopra
9. Professor and Naughty Boy
10. Parchhaiyaan
Questions #1, 3, and 5 haven’t been answered correctly yet.
So, head off to the next quiz to try your knowledge of classic Hindi film trivia there!
And, just for the fun of it (this is not part of the quiz, because I am not a 100% sure of the answer!):
Which famous cinema personality appeared in a cameo role as a boatman alongside Premnath, in the song Naiyya teri majhdhaar in Awara (1951)?
Dustedoff 
A couple (maybe more..) of guesses but here goes !!
(Note from dustedoff, who has since edited this comment to remove all answers and give everybody a clean slate to begin with… please read the post! Send your answers in, at my e-mail address. If you don’t have my mail address, leave a comment for that, and I’ll mail it to you.)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
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I’m not going to say yes or no here, but I can see you’re good at searching the Web! Though I’m pretty sure some of this stuff you’d have known even without having to search for it.
P.S. Now that I’ve explained once again how you can send in confidential answers, would you like me to delete your comment above, so that people who haven’t read this post yet don’t inadvertently get some of the answers from you?
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…and, since you haven’t said yes or no to my question about whether I should delete your comment, I’ve gone ahead and edited out your answers, anyway!
People: please don’t go away! Please come back and participate! Please!
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yes yes please remove…i got a bit confused by the submission rules :-(
and yes i didnt know many answers…but asked mom :-)
even she didnt know all, so rest is all guess work..like the very obvious ‘detective’ !!
had good fun !! that is reward enough :-)
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Well, you can have more fun now – try the next quiz! But, please – mail me the answers. Or let me know if you need my mail address. :-)
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1) No idea
2) Padma Khanna
wait, now there’s no point answering coz somebody already has given the above answers and I can’t help not looking at them. And anyways I don’t know quite a few of the answers so I’ll just say: Let the most deserving candidate win!!
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:-)
Want to try your hand at the one question – the bonus one, which isn’t actually part of the quiz?
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Ya, i realised after I had posted here that this way it’d be difficult for people to answer…any better suggestions of getting the answers…?
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Okay, since everybody seems to be not reading the post (!!!), I shall quote from the ‘rules of submission‘ I’ve written in the post:
“You can post your answers in the comments fields below. Or, if you’d prefer your answers to be confidential (and if you have my e-mail address), you can mail them to me. If you don’t have my e-mail address but would like to send me the answers, just leave a note to that effect in the comments; I’ll send you a mail so you can respond to it.”
So. :-)
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I agree. Since this is a serious competition with such wonderful prizes, :) reading other people’s answers sort of interferes with ones own.
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Read the post carefully! ;-)
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:) What a fun post! But since AK has posted his / her answers, it won’t be fair, will it? It’s hard not to see that comment since it is the first one up. My suggestion? Forget the competition (give ak the book!), and give us a post with the answers and trivia written up in your own inimitable style. :))
To reiterate – fantastic post!
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Oh, I wouldn’t give AK the book, because AK’s answers aren’t all correct, anyway.
Shucks. Now I’m feeling so disappointed. This was a quiz I’d so been looking forward to hosting. It isn’t a fantastic post, Anu – but thank you for your support, anyway!
P.S. What would you suggest? Should I delete AK’s first comment? I did ask, but there hasn’t been any response… what the hell, I guess I will edit it, at least.
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dont worry about the book please !! like i said the quiz itself was great fun…
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No problem! I get to parade more trivia. ;-)
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1. detective
2. padma khanna
3. muhabbat tark kee maine
4. pyaasa
5. dont know
6. aake seedhi lagii from half ticket
7. madhubala
8. yash chopra
9. professor and naughty boy
10. talkhiyaan
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i debated a lot between talkhiyan and parchaiyyan…a friend though convinced me on parchaiyyan…
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I rewatched the film a few weeks back… so yes, I can confirm that it is indeed Parchhaiyaan.
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Some Answers
Okay, everybody… since this quiz went a bit off the rails, I’m revealing the answers that both AK and/or Ravi got right. Sorry, guys: you don’t get the prize because this quiz got invalidated – my fault, too, because I should have made it mandatory for people to not write the answers in the comments section. But there’s a new quiz up, so try your hand at that! (And, mail me the answers – if you don’t have my mail ID, ask for it).
For now, the correct answers for some of the questions above. (Note: I’m carrying forward questions that were incorrectly answered, so I’m not including those answers here)
2. Padma Khanna
4. Pyaasa
6. Aake seedhi lagi, from Half Ticket
7. Madhubala
8. Yash Chopra
9. Professor and Naughty Boy
10. Parchhaiyaan
Questions #1, 3, and 5 haven’t been answered correctly yet.
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Partly edited by Dustedoff because Q No. 5 is still part of the new quiz, and AK’s comment contains an inkling of the answer:
q.no 5.. ?
q.no.6.. is this a technicality we are looking at , in the sense a nazm vs a ghazal..in which case Sahir’s first ghazal didnt appear till pyaasa !!
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Well, as you can see – I’ve removed your comment about Q 5.
Secondly, Q 6 is still part of the new quiz, so do try not to give away the answer here. And yes, I mean a ghazal. Not just any song.
P.S. Please note that some of these questions – 1, 5 and 6 – are still part of the new quiz, so if you want to ask for clues or hints or stuff like that, do so on the new quiz page. That way, other readers can see them too (in case they haven’t come back to these comments). It’ll give everybody a more level playing field.
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Congratulations for completing the loop, DO. I had fun guessing the links. :)
Hope you’ll start another course soon.
This quiz is a great idea. I’m no good at these things, but will enjoy getting answers to questions which will increase my knowledge.
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Thank you, pacifist! And yes, you were the one who managed to get pretty good at guessing the links, didn’t you? :-)
I will certainly repeat the ‘linked posts’ project sometime – it was great fun to do, too. The next time around, I will try and challenge myself further, so I can include more Hollywood and international cinema – this time, the last dozen or so posts ended up being all Hindi cinema.
I’m glad you like the idea of a quiz! (There’s a new one up, now – so go check it out, even if you don’t want to attempt it). And the answers of most of the questions for this quiz have been published, too – so you can have a look at those. :-)
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I came late to the party!
But as it is there is a bigger after-party party!
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To be late is uber fashionable in an Indian party, isn’t it? ;-)
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:-)
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5 surely is …..
(Edited by Dustedoff)
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Sorry to remove that from your comment, Karthik. That’s still an open question (it’s in the later quiz), so no answers to that in the comments, please. If you’d like to participate in the new quiz (which is the post following this one), I can send you my e-mail ID and you can respond on that.
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Please send me your email id. didnt realize that it had to be sent to the email address,apologies.
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No problem. In any case, if you read this post from the beginning, you’ll see that this quiz isn’t valid any more. The quiz currently on – in the next post – is the one for which you can submit answers.
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